Chan and I had a new year’s celebration meal with two dear friends of ours at Cino. Cino is a newish restaurant located at one of those new Ward condominiums (very close to Tonkatsu Kuro). The menu sounded very nice and I was excited to try a new restaurant! Did I jinx myself with the excitement? Perhaps…let’s check it out together.

Yuzu Peach Collins (non-alcoholic) | $10.00

This restaurant seems to be allergic to printing things on menus. I asked if they had any mocktails and this was the only choice so here we are! It was a good drink! Not strong on yuzu taste which is good for me.

1/2 Dozen Oysters | $24.00

No can comment because no can eat!! Damn me and my oyster sensitivity! You know, I did eat one raw oyster in Japan and did just fine. Should I keep testing my resolve? I don’t know…

Beef Tartare | $24.00
Creekstone Farm’s Filet Mignon, Egg Yolk Emulsion, Capers, Tapioca Puff

I apologize for the photograph! I love beef tartare and this was a nice preparation, the tapioca puff was fried light and crispy. Very good dish!

Charcuterie Board | $34.00

Their board is a “chef’s daily special” so we didn’t know what would come on the board. We asked the waitress and she recited it out to us. That’s a lot of information to take in and I can’t remember it all. There were 5 different types of meat, 2 different cheeses and a nice apricot jelly. It was good! This was also where I tasted mortadella for the first time and hmm…not a fan. Not from here anyway.

Rigatoni Bolognese | $29.00
Veal, Beef, Pork, Sofrito

Lamb Shank | $52.00
Seasonal Vegetable Scafata

Got a taste of this, very nice and tender. Had a good gamey taste which I like.

House-Aged Half Roasted Duck | $49.00
Confit Leg, Sauce alla Orange

Felt like some duck and not from Chinatown. It was very nice! I enjoyed the orange glaze with the rich duck. Would I prefer the Chinatown style over this place? Well, probably but it’s nice to branch out!

Pork Chop | $48.00
14 Day Dry-Aged Averna Apple Reduction

This was the shock of the night for me – Chan’s dish but I got to try a piece and it was so good. It was cooked medium so you shouldn’t order this if you are sensitive to pink pork meat. It was super tender and flavorful. We had leftovers but reheated, it wasn’t the same. Once it gets fully cooked, it’s just like any other run of the mill pork. It was good freshly prepared.

Crispy Garlic Potatoes | $16.00
Parmigiano, Parsley

The table enjoyed this dish, I tried a piece and it was good! I’m more of a rice gal.

Mango Panna Cotta with Seasonal Berries | $12.00

Yet another instance where there was no menu! No dessert menu – can you believe it? When the waitress asked if we wanted dessert, we asked to see the menu and poor thing had to recite every single dessert. WHY? Anyway, I decided to try this dish because I wasn’t feeling ice cream or any of the other dishes. I wasn’t expecting much at first but boy was it good. I loved it. I would get this again. If you can see, there’s actually a mango layer in the dessert. The fresh berries offered a perfect offset to the creamy panna cotta.

In the end, the food was good but the restaurant was just okay. It is a very young and trendy restaurant so it was very loud. We were seated by a table of young galpals and they were very loud and vulgar (f-bombs left and right) all night. Made it hard to have any real conversations. Glad to have tried, don’t plan to return anytime soon.

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